How much is your kid’s allowance?

[disneymommagic]

My children never really got an allowance however; I have become sick of them thinking that if they ask they will receive. I want my children to understand they need to earn the money for the extras like video games, and iTunes. I talked with DH about doing a chore/allowance for our children, we have DS8 and DD13 he said “sounds good whatever you think honey”.

I picked out chores nothing over taxing, then sat them down and said if you do these chores you will get an allowance. First thing they wanted to know is how much, I said 20.00 a month apparently this is low for my DH so he breaks out with 40.00 a month, needless to say the kids pounce on that quickly. Maybe I am just behind in the times when I was kid I got a dollar a week or something, alight it was most likely more than a dollar, but I can assure you it was not 40.00 a month. So I am interested in seeing what other people decided on for allowances?

 

[stsomewhere]

We give our kids, 12 and 15, $40 a month. My husband gets paid once a month. They get all of it at once. They can earn extra by doing chores. They use it for things that we won't buy like itune cards, video games , makeup, dates, going out with friends etc. We pay for any school related activites- dances, games, clubs, etc.

 

[WantToGoNow]

My kids do get $10 a week if they do all of their chores. If they miss one, they get nothing. Ds12 mows the grass, takes out the trash and put the laundry on. Dd9 takes care of the pets, vacuums, loads/runs/empties the dishwasher and takes the laundry out of the washer and starts the dryer.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Our DS, 17, had been getting $20 a week for the last year or so. But now he's working (making his own income) and driving the car to visit his girlfriend, so I keep the allowance in lieu of gas money.

When he was younger, we used the "one dollar for every year of age" philosophy (so at 10 years old he got $10 a week).

We are big believers in the philosophy that kids need to have money in order to learn how to manage money.

 

[Surfinpiratee]

When I was in elementary school, I got technically $10 a week. My mom would hand me $5 and put the other $5 in a piggy bank.

In middle school I got $10 a week

Then at some point between middle school and high school I got like $15 a week. Then in my later years of high school I got $20 a week.

I didn't get a job until I was 18, because I swear everytimebi looked you had to be 18, lol.

 

[lisaross]

my kids never got an allowance. They are now 11 and 13. They do "cat" sit for my neighbors when they go away - they get 5.00 a day to feed the cats 3x a day - they split the job.

I just decided to pay them for good grades - lesson being - hard work = you get $$

so 97+ - 3.00
95+ - 2.00
92+ 1.00

if they get under a certain grade like 70 or something they pay me!!

They really don't have anything to spend money on during the school year - i pay for family stuff - they do spend money sometimes during the summer at day camp if they want more for trips etc. - also if i don't want to go out to eat and they want fast food - they pay for it!

 

[Diz Crazy]

We do $1.00, $3.00 or $5.00 depending on how much they do. If they don't want to help around the house then they don't get anything. The more they work the more they earn. They really want to help out when they are working to save $ for something!! Works great!!

 

[sets14]

DS is 6 and we just recently started an allowance. He gets $3 a week-$1 for good school behavior chart, $1 for taking out all recycling, an $1 for clearing the table. We have strongly suggested he give $1 to church, save $1 and keep $1 for fun money which at his age is gum or and iPad app. I can't imagine how much he'll need/expect in 10 years! Lol

 

[powelweb]

We've given DD an allowance since she was 4- she recently turned 10, so she now gets $10 a week, and she can use this for savings, birthday presents for her friends and things we won't buy (like I don't spend $30 on jeans for me- you think I'm buying them for you???).

When she was little, it was great because it really cut down on the "gimmes" when we were in stores because she knew she had her own money she could spend (and we would front her if she didn't have it on her at the time), but she thought about purchases a lot more than if it was just coming from our wallets as opposed to her piggy bank.

She also does chores, because we all have to help with things in the family, so she feeds the dogs, and puts them out afterwards, sets the table when we have company for dinner and more recently has started sorting laundry and then actually using the washer and dryer, too.

 

[tvguy]

Not sure why, but we never gave our kids an allowance. If it was something they needed we bought it. We bought a desk top computer for the entire family to share, and they did not get their own computers until they went away to college.

If it was something they wanted, that came from the money they had to save from Christmas and Birthday money they got from Grandparents. DS and DD coordinated purchases like video game systems, and games, and we have a Wii and DD bought an Xbox DS bought and they shared. I did kick in a 30 year old TV in the Living room for exclusive use with the video games, but it was going to the dump since the tuner was dead, but the video inputs work fine, so they were happy as clams.

Both kids are in their 20's now, and both can make a penny scream, so it certainly taught them how to manage money for things they really wanted.

 

[wiigirl]

Right now we a weekly allowence...$1 for the grade they are in. DD5 gets $1 and DD10 get $5.

 

[busyshrew]

We've given DD an allowance since she was 4- she recently turned 10, so she now gets $10 a week, and she can use this for savings, birthday presents for her friends and things we won't buy (like I don't spend $30 on jeans for me- you think I'm buying them for you???).

When she was little, it was great because it really cut down on the "gimmes" when we were in stores because she knew she had her own money she could spend (and we would front her if she didn't have it on her at the time), but she thought about purchases a lot more than if it was just coming from our wallets as opposed to her piggy bank.

She also does chores, because we all have to help with things in the family, so she feeds the dogs, and puts them out afterwards, sets the table when we have company for dinner and more recently has started sorting laundry and then actually using the washer and dryer, too.

Wow, this could almost be us! The only detail that is different is that we give our daughter .50 per year of age - so at 10, she will get $5.00. We insist that she put half of her allowance into her 'savings jar' for bigger items that she might want. The other have is pin money to spend.

We were advised to start the allowance when DD was about 5 from a very wise, experienced, thrifty mom of 4. I was going crazy dealing with the "gimmies" from DD, and to my shock, my friend said, "Give her an allowance and make HER responsible for her choices". Her second word of advice was, "Unless it's going to be dangerous or unhealthy, you have to let your daughter make financial mistakes and poor choices with her money. That's the best way for her to learn".

So of course DD blew all her money on CANDY for the first month. I almost bit my tongue in half! But amazingly enough, within 3 months she stopped buying sweets and really started thinking hard about her purchases. Nowadays, she often will go weeks without spending a dime and saves a serious amount in her wallet to spend on a nicer toy.

We expect we will need to review how we give DD her allowance once she is about 12 - I want to start getting her to budget, and take greater responsibility for more choices like clothing, school supplies, gifts and toiletries. Our goal is that by the time DD is 18, she's getting a much larger monthly allowance from us but handling most of the purchasing decisions herself.

It's scary when you really think about it, such a short time to teach financial literacy!!!....

 

[wendow]

DS is 6 and we just recently started an allowance. He gets $3 a week-$1 for good school behavior chart, $1 for taking out all recycling, an $1 for clearing the table. We have strongly suggested he give $1 to church, save $1 and keep $1 for fun money which at his age is gum or and iPad app. I can't imagine how much he'll need/expect in 10 years! Lol

This is what we do. $3 a week. One to give, one to save and one to spend. This isn't a suggestion here but a requirement. It can take awhile for my girls to save enough money to buy anything big but they have many relatives who give birthday and Christmas money so I wouldn't say they go without.

 

[henry72]

Started giving DS allowance when he was 5 1/2. He gets 50 cents per year but we always round up so at 5 he got $3 a week. He is now 8 and gets $4 a week. We don't tie it to chores (such as cleaning your room) as chores always must be done because you are part of the family. There are some extra chores (such as vacuuming) where he can earn extra money. Since he does get an allowance, we pretty much no longer buy any "extras" for him. If he wants a game, candy or whatever, he uses his own money. (DD right now gets $3 at age 5.)

 

[Jeff_G]

My kids (teens) do not get allowance, they do however work on commission. They have mandatory chores like cleaning up after themselves, and doing their own laundry. They then have a chore list with a price for the chore. For the most part I allocate about $20 per month per kid for the chores. So doing dishes is like $2.00 (this amount has gone up as they have gotten older), taking out the trash each week 2.00. Raking the yard of leaves is like $5-$10. Mowing the lawn is $5.

They use this money to buy toys and video games and save for future expenses like a car. Sometimes I do have to motivate ie tell one child you are going to do that chore.

They have a list on the fridge where they write down the chore, the date and the commission price. Twice a month I pay out their commissions.

Allowance to me feel like you are teaching your child to hold out their hand and beg for money because they cant earn for themselves...

 

[lauradis]

We do the 1 dollars per year of age per week paid every Monday. More money for things that mom doesn't really want to do. More money for A's double for 100's.

Here where it changes around 7th grade I give child the money I would normally spend on clothes shoes, lunch money. Plus allowance and grade money. This is when real budgeting comes in to play.

By 16 if you want to drive you have to have a job and pay a percentage of car insurance and car up keep. Still get all allowances pays.

 

[littleelf]

We just started a weekly allowance of $5 each if they do a set list of chores. They are 12 and 9. The chores are pretty easy; they can do more to get more money. They must make sure all clothes including socks get into laundry, shoes are kept by the door or in bedroom, clean clothes get put away, and every dish they use get into the dishwasher. Then they have a rotating schedule--one week 1 child is on cat duty (scooping and feeding) and the other is on dishwasher unloading duty. Week 2 they switch. They also must do two additional chores that week to get the $5. There are choices like vacuuming, sweeping, doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms, etc. We don't require bed-making because we have these horrible loft beds that are annoying to make.

So far it's OK but it's only been two weeks. They get a lot of money from their grandparents and we put it in the bank but they're old enough that they know they get the money now. I don't like letting them touch that money so I'm willing to give them the allowance instead to spend. Usually the birthday/Christmas money from the rest of the family they can spend, the grandparent money is for saving.

 

[tasha99]

DS15 gets $5 week of "allowance" for which he is expected to take out the trash and feed the pets. He also gets $10/ week for school lunches. This is enough for him to pack one lunch and buy four. What he decides to do with that money is up to him--he could save it all if he wanted to eat sandwiches all week.

 

[jennyjinx3]

Not sure why, but we never gave our kids an allowance. If it was something they needed we bought it. We bought a desk top computer for the entire family to share, and they did not get their own computers until they went away to college.

If it was something they wanted, that came from the money they had to save from Christmas and Birthday money they got from Grandparents. DS and DD coordinated purchases like video game systems, and games, and we have a Wii and DD bought an Xbox DS bought and they shared. I did kick in a 30 year old TV in the Living room for exclusive use with the video games, but it was going to the dump since the tuner was dead, but the video inputs work fine, so they were happy as clams.

Both kids are in their 20's now, and both can make a penny scream, so it certainly taught them how to manage money for things they really wanted.

This is us too with our girls. Tried the allowance thing for a while, nah didn't like it. Our girls will save their birthday money for things too. THey all have some birthday money saved right now for some extra disney money!! BTW love the bolded!!

 

[CAFarmerGirl]

No allowance. Chores are part of a family member's duty. My kids have a lot less chores during their school year due to homework and activities. Summer, they do almost everything.

School is their job, so I pay for grades. $10/A, $5/B, $20 bonus for all A's and B's, and $50 bonus for straight A's.

If we are taking a big trip, I will hold onto their money until the trip.